New FCC RF Safety rules come into effect on May 3 - what you need to know

“Beware of dog” signs occasionally have been construed by courts as an admission that the dog is known to be dangerous.

 

So basically if you run 1500 watts full duty on HF with an average HF antenna ~6dBi and your neighbors are more then 50 feet away, you're ok

 

Maybe. Depends on frequency. On 40M and 20M shouldn't be a problem. Probably on the other HF bands as well.

 

Why are we only learning of this now with less than a week to go until it becomes law? It appears to me that it affects all of us. At first glance it also looks like something angry neighbours and HOAs can use against us. It also smells like a load of BS.

 

I like, very good and thank you, Bob kc0eoc

 

We're not learning about this just now. It's been out there for about a year and a half. But some people have not been paying attention.

 

I ran the safety calculations on my station today, for all bands and antennas, using calculator #1(Evans) above. Since I operate a QRP station (5W), I was well within compliance limits anywhere on my property, even standing directly under the antennas.

It was interesting to use the same calculator for a 1W cell phone held against the head (I assumed a 0.01 meter distance). A 4G phone (2350 MHz) was about 158 times over the safe (uncontrolled) limit and a 5G phone at 39 GHz was 400 times over the safe (uncontrolled) limit!

Looking at a 2 meter or 70 cm HT, it appears if it is held close to the head (4 inches or less), you would need a power level of 100 milliwatts or less to be within the limit. At 5 watts, using the 'uncontrolled' exposure limit to be conservative, your arm wouldn't be long enough to hold it at a safe distance.

 

We as amateurs have no enforcement anymore, people get on the radio and do as they please. Everyone has heard what I am referring to.

We will be paying more for our license from now on and our Govt through the FCC wants to control us yet even more by telling us that they have no conclusive scientific evidence that Rf can hurt anyone, yet we have to do a rf exposure test......

I did the test to satisfy my own curiosity.
Myself and all of my neighbors are very much safe as my antennas are more than 100 feet away from my house and hundreds of feet from neighbors.

They are saying this is voluntary unless the FCC shows up.

More Govt control through regulations, Wow ! Who would have thunk it.

 

WAIT JUST A MINUTE, isn't this a DIRECT COPY & PASTE of K0UO in post # 3 of this thread ?

"I have seen some pretty nasty situations over the past 20 years. Unfortunately I have been involved representing clients after the fact/ and many of which did not have any documentation of compliance."[/QUOTE]


Me thinks there is skullduggery afoot !



73, Vince - NN5AA Never Needed 5 Alternate Aliases

 

This has

This has been in process for years. Of course if you said it was coming NPC's would tell you your crazy. As in all things we see going on people tried to warn us decades ago.

 

It is death by ten thousand paper cuts from bureaucrats.

First, ask your Congressman Critter AND Senator Critter if there has ever been a documented injury by radiation at Amateur Radio power levels of transmitted RF on the amateur bands below 150 megahertz, other than direct skin contact with the antenna.
(we all know the answer to that )
And ask them in writing by USPS, not email or phone calls, demanding a formal response not a form letter.

The bureaucrats, and their fraternity brothers in elected office, will immediately say that since there is a possibility, even if it is remote and hasn't happened yet, it has to be guarded against in the name of public safety.

The answer to that, is that the real threat to public safety from tobacco, alcohol, sugar, automobiles, saturated fats, bathtubs, and kitchen knives is well documented yet there is not a single requirement for each person in this country using said threats in public to fill out a form assessing their risk level under threat of regulatory penalty. Yet the threat to public safety that has never been documented at amateur power levels requires us filing a form under just such a threat.

And, the fact that there are documented injuries at commercial levels of ERP above 150 megahertz is not justification for burdening Amateurs below 150 megahertz. This is akin to requiring license plates, air bags, and insurance on children's tricycles because they are a vehicle.

Then ask your critter if the FCC complied with the laws requiring calculation of the economic impact of complying with this regulatory burden. Then did it calculate the number of injuries or death that would be prevented by this regulation to show a cost versus benefit ratio, Eliminating a potential risk by regulatory burden on a class of person where no benefit can be shown to exceed the cost of compliance, cannot be justified.

As to, "Why now?" Well, the immediate previous administration was unlikely to have signed off on it. Prior to that time, I don't know why.

Now, ignoring the problem, ignoring the chore of writing to your elected critters, and just going on with your life is the easy route - and 99% of you will do that.

The ball is in your court.

 

And don't forget to ask your Congress critter if the FCC ever sold out GPS to the highest bidder to operate a cellular 10kw network directly adjacent to gps and ask the same critters if the FCC is doing the same thing once more only under a different name.

It's all about generating revenue dollars and fining hams for violations and nothing else, if anyone really believes that the FCC gives a rats butt about my neighbors being radiated then you have a lot to learn about gubbament honesty and integrity.

 

I'm doing my part to comply.

 

Pot, meet kettle.

Rather sad how some needed that explained to them, isn't it?